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Imran Khan applies to be uni chancellor from jail

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Imran Khan, Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister, appears to be eyeing up a new role from behind bars – that of Oxford University chancellor.

Mr Khan, who has been in prison for more than a year on charges he says are politically motivated, submitted his application ahead of the deadline on Sunday night, his adviser confirmed on X.

The one-time cricket star is already an honorary fellow of Oxford’s Keble College, where he studied philosophy, politics and economics (PPE) in 1972.

The University of Oxford gave no comment about the specific application and will not confirm the candidates for the position until early October with voting to be held online on 28 October.

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(One of Mr Khan’s advisers posted on X confirming the former prime minister of Pakistan’s intention to run.)

Previously candidates were required to be nominated by 50 members of the University’s Convocation.

The Oxford chancellor’s role is largely ceremonial and is voted for by graduates of the university who have had their degree conferred provided they have registered to vote and members of the university’s congregations including academic staff.

Candidates cannot be current students, employees of the University or candidates to political office.

Christopher Patten is the outgoing chancellor, who has held the position since 2003.

Lord Patten, 80, was the last Governor of Hong Kong from 1992 to 1997 and chairman of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1992.

The former PM behind bars

Imran Khan was jailed on 5 August for failing to correctly declare the sale of state gifts.

Cases against the former politician mounted and the 71-year-old was given three long prison sentences, but all of these have now fallen away.

A United Nations panel declared his detention was arbitrary but Mr Khan remains in jail with new cases against his name.

(BBC)

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Funeral of Pope Francis, today

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Dozens of world leaders and thousands of mourners are gathering for the funeral of Pope Francis, who died on Easter Monday aged 88.

The service will begin at 10:00 local time (09:00 BST) in front of St Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City.

More than 250,000 people came to pay their respects to the late pontiff over the three days he was lying in state, the Vatican says.

Preparations have begun for the conclave, the process by which cardinals will elect the next Pope.

In Sri Lanka, the government has declared today a national day of mourning in honour of the funeral of His Holiness Pope Francis.

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism – Vijitha Herath will represent the Government of Sri Lanka at the funeral.

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TikTok astrologer arrested for predicting new Myanmar quake

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Myanmar authorities have arrested an astrologer for causing panic by predicting a new earthquake in a viral TikTok video.

John Moe The posted his prediction on 9 April, just two weeks after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake killed 3,500 people and destroyed centuries-old temples in the South East Asian nation.

He was arrested Tuesday for making “false statements with the intention of causing public panic”, Myanmar’s information ministry said.

John Moe The had warned that an earthquake would “hit every city in Myanmar” on 21 April. But experts say earthquakes are impossible to predict due to the complexity of the factors involved in such disasters.

In his video, which got more than three million views, John Moe The urged people to “take important things with you and run away from buildings during the shaking.”

“People should not stay in tall buildings during the day,” read its caption.

A Yangon resident told AFP that many of her neighbours believed in the prediction. They refused to stay in their homes and camped outside the day John Moe The said the earthquake would happen.

His now-defunct TikTok account, which has more than 300,000 followers, claims to make predictions based on astrology and palmistry.

He was arrested during a raid on his home in Sagaing, central Myanmar.

The areas of Mandalay and Sagaing were hit especially hard by the earthquake on 28 March, which prompted a rare request from the Myanmar junta for foreign aid.

That earthquake was felt some 1,000km away in Bangkok, where a building collapsed at a construction site, killing dozens.

(BBC News)

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China shares rare moon rocks with US despite trade war

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China will let scientists from six countries, including the US, examine the rocks it collected from the Moon – a scientific collaboration that comes as the two countries remain locked in a bitter trade war.

Two Nasa-funded US institutions have been granted access to the lunar samples collected by the Chang’e-5 mission in 2020, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said on Thursday.

CNSA chief Shan Zhongde said that the samples were “a shared treasure for all humanity,” local media reported.

Chinese researchers have not been able to access Nasa’s Moon samples because of restrictions imposed by US lawmakers on the space agency’s collaboration with China.

Under the 2011 law, Nasa is banned from collaboration with China or any Chinese-owned companies unless it is specifically authorised by Congress.

But John Logsdon, the former director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, told BBC Newshour that the latest exchange of Moon rocks have “very little to do with politics”.

While there are controls on space technology, the examination of lunar samples had “nothing of military significance”, he said.

“It’s international cooperation in science which is the norm.”

Washington has imposed tariffs Chinese goods that go up to 245%, while Beijing has hit back with 125% tariffs on US goods.

US President Donald Trump previously hinted at a de-escalation in the trade war, but Beijing has denied that there were negotiations between the two sides.

In 2023, the CNSA put out a call for applications to study its Chang’e-5 moon samples.

What’s special about the Chang’e-5 Moon samples is that they “seem to be a billion years younger” than those collected from Apollo missions, Dr Logsdon said. “So it suggests that volcanic activity went on in the moon more recently than people had thought”.

Space officials from the US and China had reportedly tried to negotiate an exchange of moon samples last year – but it appears the deal did not materialise.

Besides Brown University and Stony Brook University in the US, the other winning bids came from institutions in France, Germany, Japan, Pakistan, the UK.

Shan, from the CNSA, said the agency will “maintain an increasingly active and open stance” in international space exchange and cooperation, including along the space information corridor under the Belt and Road Initiative

“I believe China’s circle of friends in space will continue to grow,” he said.

(BBC News)

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